April 17, 2017

Most small business owners keep close tabs on the health of their business through traditional accounting reports, like the profit-and-loss statement(P&L) and balance sheet. As the pace and complexity of business increase, some merchants are also digesting bite-sized daily revenue snapshots to get a better sense of which factors impact day-to-day sales trends.

At Letcher Bros. Auto Repair in Pinole, California, owner Mike Letcher has embraced digital tools and small business software to streamline his business and keep closer tabs on the company’s vital signs. In addition to keeping a close eye on his books, Mike uses the revenue analysis tools in Womply Insights to quickly and simply evaluate his company’s health every day and take action right away when necessary.

Mike uses the Day of the Week feature in Insights to connect the dots between spikes or dips in revenue and the likely causes for these ups and downs. By watching revenue daily, Mike can correlate a dip in revenue to a key technician being out or some big jobs winding down — subtle connections that are easy to miss if you only review sales numbers on a weekly or monthly basis.

“I keep close tabs on my P&L and know my revenue, but I still sometimes look at the analytics and say, ‘Wow, this was a big day,’ or ‘How come this one was not?’” Mike says. “We’re really active about sharing feedback with staff so we can celebrate wins and improve as a team. Having more information available helps me give better direction and make better decisions.”

Like most business owners, Mike is motivated by pride of ownership and has a healthy amount of curiosity about his company’s competitive standing in the market. Because Womply is powered by actual transaction data for merchants in every U.S. zip code, Mike can simply and securely compare his revenue to other similar businesses in the area using the Leaderboard tool in Insights.

“We’re almost always ranked No. 1, which is just kind of fun to see,” Mike says.